Ashok Gehlot favours companies that hire his son

Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot.Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot is in the eye of a storm over allegations of favouring companies that employed the services of his son, Vaibhav.

The Gehlot government allegedly awarded contracts worth several crores of rupees to Om Metals and Triton Hotels, which had hired Vaibhav as their legal consultant.

The Opposition hit out against the government after a television channel aired a report about its alleged largesse to the two companies.

The BJP alleged that rules were bent to award lucrative contracts to Om Metals, a charge that the government stoutly denies.

In May 2010, the state government awarded a Rs 457- crore contract to Om Metals to construct a dam across the Kalisindh river near Kota.

The company's main business is hydro- power projects, the TV channel said.

The company was awarded another Rs 250- crore contract to build 200- km stretch of the state highway between Jaipur and Bhilwara.

Om Metals is also reportedly actively pursuing several other projects in the state. Among them is a highrise near Jaipur's Statue Circle near the state secretariat.

The company is also in the race for a 100- mega watt power project in Jaisalmer.

Om Metals bagged all these projects after Gehlot came to power in 2008. The company had hired the services of Vaibhav in 2006. In his tax returns for the past two years, Gehlot junior says he was paid Rs 10,000 per month by Om Metals.

Triton, too, allegedly benefitted from the government after it hired Vaibhav's services in 2009 for a monthly remuneration of Rs 50,000.

A month after the CM's son joined the company, it was allowed to use 10,000 square metres of land on the Delhi- Jaipur highway for commercial development. The Triton Hotel came up on the land pretty quickly, the report said.

In 2008, Vaibhav had started a company, Sunlight Tours and Travels. Last year, he sold off 50 per cent stake in that company to Ratan Kant Sharma, a director in Triton, for an undisclosed amount.

Talking to the channel, the chief minister denied allegations of favouritism and said no rules were bent while awarding the contracts to these companies.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, however, said Gehlot was speaking as a father and not as a CM. " He cannot decide whether there was nepotism," she said, adding that the allegations called for a thorough investigation, preferably by the CBI. State BJP president Arun Chaturvedi said his party had suspected wrongdoings in the dealings last year itself.

The BJP had demanded a high- level probe into the Kalisindh dam construction.

Party MLA from Kota South, Om Birla, had raised the issue in the assembly. He had alleged that the government's favouritism to Om Metals had caused a loss of more than Rs 200 crore to the exchequer.

He had moved a call attention motion, alleging that the government had changed some terms and conditions for the project to suit Om Metals.

BUSINESS DEALS THAT BACKFIRED

The Ashok Gehlot government awarded a Rs 457- crore contract to Om Metals to construct a dam on Kalisindh river

The government awarded a Rs 250- crore contract to the company to build a 200- km stretch of highway

Om Metals is reportedly pursuing a project to build a highrise near the state secretariat

The company is also in the race for a 100- mega watt power project in Jaisalmer

The government allowed Triton Hotels to use 10,000 square metres of land on the Delhi- Jaipur highway for commercial development

Om Metals and Triton Hotels have hired Vaibhav as legal consultant for a monthly pay of Rs 10,00 and Rs 50,000 respectively